Pick Up the Pieces
by xXFacelessXx
Summary: An accident that tore up her tail has cost her the performing life that she always loved. When Agratha finds herself in New York Zoo to recover, she meets new friends and an old friend shows up. When she learns a bit more about him, however, all she has to hang onto is something he told her when they were young. "No matter what happens, I will always Pick Up the Pieces for you."


The people were crowding in front of the new exhibit. Skipper paced back and forth on the ice, his face screwed up in irritation and curiosity. What could be attracting the people like that? Kowalski, Private and Rico watched him. Every once and a while, a splash would sound from within the crowd. All of the penguins searched for a gap between people. They were desperate to find out what animal would be their neighbor.

"It's obviously an aquatic animal..." Kowalski murmured.

"M-Maybe it's a seal!" Private squeaked, his eyes big and frightened.

"Not likely." Kowalski cut the young penguin off. "The zoo doesn't have enough resources to feed a seal. They eat ten pounds of fish per day, and require more space than the zoo has available."

Rico was about to join in with his incoherent babbling, but he was drown out by the final chime of the zoo bell. As people began to leave, Skipper caught a glimpse of a yellow streak. Impatiently, he waited for the crowd to thin. Once it did, his beak hung slack. It was a dolphin! He didn't hesitate to leap from their exhibit, and onto the back of a bench. He narrowed his eyes at her. His comrades leaped up beside him.

"It's a common dolphin, sir!" Kowalski affirmed. "This one is female and about 2.5 meters long. Their diets consists of sardines and anchovies." The dolphin turned around to look at them. She gave a very light and shy smile, her baby blue eyes gleaming. She had an hourglass pattern of light yellow on her side and a dark stripe from her flipper to her lower jaw.

"Hello." She greeted, her voice was louder than they expected. Skipper glared at her, and she inched back.

"Are you working for Dr. Blowhole?!" Skipper pointed his flipper towards the dolphin. She gave him a slightly offended and incredulous look.

"Excuse me, but who?" She snapped. "I don't even know who you're talking about! Besides, if I did, I would have the brains not to tell you." Private looked up at her with frightened eyes. She saw him and sighed lightly.

"I'm sorry, what are your names?" The dolphin straightened herself out.

"That's Skipper, Rico and Kowalski." Private couldn't help but smile. "I'm Private!"

"Unique names." She mused. "I'm Agratha." Skipper looked into the water, noticing that she seemed to be working her tail rather hard. She sighed and looked up. Her body shimmered with the sunset and the light casting off the water.

"W-where'd you come from?" Private stammered and she looked down again. She relaxed so that she was floating on her back.

"I came from Sea World." She explained. "After being brutally attacked by a couple male dolphins, they sent me here. I won't be able to return because of the damage they did." She went under the water, and flipped her tail out. Private was shocked to see large rips through the skin. Skipper nodded to himself. He now understood why she gave the appearance that she was working hard to stay stationary.

"Well, welcome!" Private through his tiny flippers into the air, causing Agratha to laugh. She gently tapped him on the head. Then, she flipped back into the water, and swam off. The penguins watched her for a moment, before going back to their own exhibit.

Agratha watched them retreat silently. She wasn't too keen on the way that Skipper had rudely addressed her, but she was happy that someone had introduced themselves all the same. As the sun fell behind the buildings, she brought her tail up to look at it. It was still tore up, but was slowly healing itself. She tried to swim around her exhibit quickly, but the rips made it impossible to move faster than a turtle. She let out a loud sigh and looked at her surroundings.

The zoo was rather neat besides a few wrappers tossed here and there. She noticed that her exhibit was the closest to the entrance. Without trying to, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the water. She was a Common Dolphin. Her belly was white and had a strip of yellow on each side. She had a black ring just before the air hole on top of her head. She couldn't help but sigh at the thought of the life ahead of her. It was going to be very laid back and slow. She hated that. Agratha loved excitement and watching people smile and laugh at her tricks. They'd still do that...just not to the extent she was used to.

"You can take everything I have," Agratha sang softly. "You can break everything I am. Like I'm made of glass...like I'm made of paper. Go on and try to tear me down. I will be rising from the ground, like a skyscraper. Like a skyscraper!"

"Your voice is really pretty!" She fell backwards into the water and then came back up to see a brown otter standing on the edge of her enclosure. "Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Agratha laughed and looked at her.

"You must be the new animal that Skipper was talking about." The otter said and Agratha tilted her head slightly.

"He was talking about me?" She asked. "He didn't seem to like me when he first met me."

"Oh, that's just Skipper." The otter laughed and gave Agratha a kind smile. "I'm Marlene, by the way."

"Agratha." The dolphin smiled back and did a little roll in the water.

"Anyway, I just wanted to come and say 'Hi' like a good neighbor." Marlene chuckled a bit. "Well, good night!"

"Night." Agratha managed to say just before Marlene slipped into the darkness. A moment passed by in silence, and then Agratha went underwater. She was hoping to catch some sleep. However, she found it more difficult without her friends nearby.

* * *

"Why does she look so familiar?"

"I wouldn't know, sir."

"Wait...replay her singing again, number one."

_"You can take everything I have," The dolphin's soft voice echoed through the base. "You can break everything I am. Like I'm made of glass...like I'm made of paper. Go on and try to tear me down. I will be rising from the ground, like a skyscraper. Like a skyscraper!"_

"Agratha?!"

* * *

**I know, this chapter is terrible. XD Try to think of it as a filler or pilot episode. The real story will hit off in chapter three. :) Anyway, leave a comment and favorite. Thanks!~**


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